Sunday, June 14, 2009

"14/06/2009 A US military delegation has met officials in Syria to discuss ways of cooperating on the security situation in Iraq [COMMENT: part of the price Syria is more than willing to pay], a daily newspaper close to the government reported on Sunday.

Syrian daily Al-Watan said Friday's talks, the first of their kind since 2004, were held "at the request of the Americans" and focused on "ways to begin cooperation on security matters between the two parties in Iraq."

"Several similar requests in previous years were rejected by Syria because of the absence of the necessary political will for such cooperation," it said.

A US embassy official had told AFP on Saturday that an American military delegation had met officials in Damascus, saying they had "positive and constructive" talks but without mentioning Iraq.

Al-Watan said the meeting coincided with renewed political dialogue between Damascus and Washington, the visit by US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell, and the planned nomination of a US ambassador to Syria......."